The Sharks 6-game pre-Olympic road trip kicked off
on a winning note in St Louis on Thursday night. San Jose spread out the
scoring with 4 different Sharks tallying goals, including Patrick Marleau, who
bagged his league leading 38th of the season. Backup goaltender Thomas Greiss
made a rare start in goal, making 35 saves to earn his 6th victory of the
season.

The Sharks got the start they wanted, converting 21 seconds
into the game. Marleau scored his goal off a Joe Thornton feed to the slot
after Dany Heatley forced a turnover at center ice. Heatley raced up the right
wing, bouncing a shot off Blues goaltender Ty Conklin. Thornton grabbed the
rebound near the right circle and circled back toward the right wing boards
before sliding a pass to Marleau who was driving toward the net.

Ryane Clowe made it 2-0 seven minutes later by
depositing another rebound on Conklin. Scott Nichol started the sequence by
winning the puck from a scrum near the Sharks blueline than racing up the right
side and putting a shot on net. Conklin has the right side of the net covered
to defend against Nichols shot, but the rebound kicked out to the left
side where Clowe was trailing on the play. The Sharks forward poked at the
puck, depositing it for his 14th goal of the season.

Patrik Berglund
cut the Sharks lead in half midway through the period with a goal from the high
slot. Berglund took a pass from Paul Kariya near the top of the left circle and
cut toward the slot before unleashing a 40-foot shot. Greiss was screened Blues
right wing David Backes, who was parked right on the doorstep.

Former
Shark Brad Boyes was sent off for slashing at 15:23 of the 2nd period, setting
up the Sharks next goal. Devin Setoguchi would convert on the power play with
an assist from the Blues defense. The Sharks forward carried the puck behind
the Blues net from left to tight, skating to the right corner before cutting
back toward the net and backhanding a shot past Conklin. The Blues defense sat
back and watched Setoguchi record his 14th goal of the season.

Alexander Steen cut the Sharks lead to a single goal
at 8:39 of the 3rd period. Skating with the puck near the right wing boards,
Steen threw the puck toward the front of the net where David Perron was locked
up with Sharks defenseman Jay Leach. The puck appeared to touch Perrons
stick, deflecting off Leachs skate and into the Sharks net. Steen was
credited with the goal, but that was irrelevant to the Sharks, who allowed an
opponent to inch back into the game.

Nichol took care of that issue by
snapping a shot past Conklin from the top of he right circle after Jed Ortmeyer
hit him with a pass from just inside the Sharks blueline.

Greiss helped himself by turning in a solid
performance, topped by a nice save on an Erik Johnson scoring chance with 9
minutes to play.

Torrey Mitchell and Backes would take off-setting
rouging penalties with 1:23 to play, then San Jose would get called for too
many men with 18 seconds to play. The man advantage would come too late for St
Louis .

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